“And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years.”

I have completed the Bennett family research (for now). I was able to document 9 generations, from my own granddaughter back to Joshua F Bennett, her 6th great-grandfather! I don’t have every document there is to have, and, in the interest of my sanity, I only researched 2 generations laterally. But certainly enough to establish my direct line:

I also sent emails containing a “Descendants of Joshua F Bennett” report to my 2 newly-found Bennett “cousins”.
I sent a request to DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution) for confirmation and any records they have on Jesse Carroll. One descendant, James Spurgeon Carroll married Mary Lavina Bennett, and another, Jerusha Jane Carroll, married Charles Andrew Bennett. I have an email from another Bennett “cousin” which indicates that descendants of Jesse Carroll belong to DAR.
An idea occured to me to help me keep my research and all the surnames involved from spiraling into total chaos. As I complete each surname, I am adding an image of that surname’s family crest to its’ computer folder:This is the Bennett folder with its family crest.
I was planning to go through the surname folders alphabetically, but I see now that I need to go by generation instead. So I think my next step will be the Stanley family.